Your website’s home page is more often than not the very first place a user (and potential customer) will land, via a search result or referral or from any other method. It’s imperative that you fill the first few seconds of that user’s visit with a relevant message, or you’ll very likely have lost them as a potential consumer of your product or service.

Your home page can be used to effectively tell a visitor what you do, what service or product you provide, and most importantly, what your business can offer someone that nobody else can. Typically this can be done with powerful visuals and a short, compact message or tagline about the key benefits of choosing your business over another.

This special message needs to be featured as the most prominent and dominating piece of information on your home page, and most definitely needs to be placed above the fold (the area of a web page that can be viewed without scrolling, most commonly referring to a size of the screen usually no greater than 578 pixels high – based on the use of a 19” monitor. With the increase in monitor resolution this number is slowly getting larger).

Have a current special offer for a product? Display it! Use a slideshow or web sized advertisement to draw attention to your feature, and include a link to learn more about that offer where applicable. Guiding the user from your home page to the page they’re looking for with ease is what the web is all about, and it should be the goal of any business with a website.

The power of your home page doesn’t end there however. Below your feature there is prime real estate for additional services and messages. The area below your key message can be used for many purposes, from displaying a list of recent news, press releases or blog posts, to the inclusion of other featured services or products from your company that may not be as important as your main feature, but can still be used to direct web traffic to other parts of your website. Additional uses include testimonials, featuring service case studies, videos and more! The possibilities are truly endless.

To summarize, a home page has become more than a space for the simple ‘Welcome to my website’ message that is still so common. Your home page is very often the most important part of your site, and when treated as such, your business will reap the benefits and you’ll see web traffic and a better return on your online investment.

Want to learn more about creating an optimized home page for your business? Contact c-Seven Media today to find out how you can capture and keep a visitor’s attention.